Establishing a Framework for the Effective Mentorship of Junior Engineering Faculty

Himani Sharma; Jennifer Hadley Perkins; Samantha Ruth Brunhaver; Adam R Carberry

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Faculty Development Division (FDD) Technical Session 4
Tagged Division: Faculty Development Division (FDD)
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/47336

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Hadley Perkins is a third-year Ph.D. Student in the Engineering Education Systems & Design Program at Arizona State University. Her research interests include Graduate Students’ Teaching Formation, Faculty Development & Mentorship, Curriculum Design, and Virtual instruction. She earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kansas in 1997. She attended Wichita State University for graduate study, earning a Secondary Mathematics Teaching Certification in 2008 and an MS in Mechanical Engineering in 2018. Ms. Perkins is a former Assistant Engineering Educator in the Engineering Technology Department of Wichita State University. She has also taught Secondary Mathematics courses in both public and private school settings.

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Samantha Ruth Brunhaver Arizona State University orcid.org/0000-0001-8607-5959

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Samantha Brunhaver is an Assistant Professor of Engineering in the Fulton Schools of Engineering Polytechnic School. Dr. Brunhaver recently joined Arizona State after completing her M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. She also

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Adam R Carberry The Ohio State University orcid.org/0000-0003-0041-7060

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Dr. Adam R. Carberry is Professor and Chair in the Department of Engineering Education at The Ohio State University (OSU). He earned a B.S. in Materials Science Engineering from Alfred University, and received his M.S. and Ph.D., both from Tufts University, in Chemistry and Engineering Education respectively. He recently joined OSU after having served as an Associate Professor in The Polytechnic School within Arizona State University’s Fulton Schools of Engineering (FSE) where he was the Graduate Program Chair for the Engineering Education Systems & Design (EESD) Ph.D. Program. He is currently a Deputy Editor for the Journal of Engineering Education and co-maintains the Engineering Education Community Resource wiki. Additional career highlights include serving as Chair of the Research in Engineering Education Network (REEN), visiting École Nationale Supérieure des Mines in Rabat, Morocco as a Fulbright Specialist, receiving an FSE Top 5% Teaching Award, receiving an ASEE Educational Research and Methods Division Apprentice Faculty Award, receiving a Frontiers in Education New Faculty Award, and being named an ASEE Fellow.

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Abstract

This work-in-progress study aims to propose a preliminary framework for understanding the behavioral, contextual, and structural, factors that contribute to effective faculty-to-faculty mentorship within engineering and the specific impacts of these factors on junior engineering faculty. Although the significance of effective mentorship in higher education is widely acknowledged, there remains a need for greater knowledge of specific practices that contribute to the successful mentorship of these junior faculty. The existing research on faculty-to-faculty mentorship largely emphasizes the importance of individual behaviors taken by the mentor, overlooking the wider contextual and structural elements that impact mentorship outcomes. This body of literature also neglects to examine the unique experiences of junior faculty in the engineering field. We aim to address these gaps in knowledge through the advancement of our framework and provide insights for enhancing the quality and success of faculty mentoring relationships. Ultimately, this work has the potential to improve the mentoring experiences of junior engineering faculty, leading to increased job satisfaction, career outcomes, and well-being within academia. Our data sample for this work in progress consists of a subset of semi-structured interviews with fifteen junior engineering faculty from various R1 public institutions nationwide. The interviews used a critical incident approach to ask faculty about their experiences with receiving mentorship from a tenured faculty in three different areas: their activities associated with being a faculty member, the social and people aspects of their job as a faculty member, and the influence of one or more of their held identities on how they navigate their job as a faculty member. Using narrative inquiry through thematic analysis, we analyze the data to understand junior faculty’s positive and negative mentorship experiences with faculty-to-faculty mentorship in terms of perceived (1) behaviors their senior faculty mentors enact in their mentoring relationships, (2) contexts and structures that influence their mentoring relationships, and (3) outcomes resulting from their mentoring relationships. The preliminary results revealed that mentoring behaviors such as candid feedback and tactical advice and contextual factors such as having mutual admiration, common interests outside of work, and shared identities or values between mentor and mentee all contributed to desirable mentorship outcomes (e.g., increased mental health and well-being, positive career outlook). In addition, structural elements, such as whether the mentoring relationship was initiated as part of a formal mentorship program and the power dynamics between mentor and mentee, also had an impact. established expectations, and a focus on the mentee). Findings from this work are expected to offer a valuable resource for universities, engineering units, and faculty members and to provide clear guidance for the development, implementation, and assessment of effective mentoring practices.

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Sharma, H., & Perkins, J. H., & Brunhaver, S. R., & Carberry, A. R. (2024, June), Establishing a Framework for the Effective Mentorship of Junior Engineering Faculty Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47336

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - This work-in-progress study aims to propose a preliminary framework for understanding the behavioral, contextual, and structural, factors that contribute to effective faculty-to-faculty mentorship within engineering and the specific impacts of these factors on junior engineering faculty. Although the significance of effective mentorship in higher education is widely acknowledged, there remains a need for greater knowledge of specific practices that contribute to the successful mentorship of these junior faculty. The existing research on faculty-to-faculty mentorship largely emphasizes the importance of individual behaviors taken by the mentor, overlooking the wider contextual and structural elements that impact mentorship outcomes. This body of literature also neglects to examine the unique experiences of junior faculty in the engineering field. We aim to address these gaps in knowledge through the advancement of our framework and provide insights for enhancing the quality and success of faculty mentoring relationships. Ultimately, this work has the potential to improve the mentoring experiences of junior engineering faculty, leading to increased job satisfaction, career outcomes, and well-being within academia. 
 Our data sample for this work in progress consists of a subset of semi-structured interviews with fifteen junior engineering faculty from various R1 public institutions nationwide. The interviews used a critical incident approach to ask faculty about their experiences with receiving mentorship from a tenured faculty in three different areas: their activities associated with being a faculty member, the social and people aspects of their job as a faculty member, and the influence of one or more of their held identities on how they navigate their job as a faculty member. Using  narrative inquiry through thematic analysis, we analyze the data to understand junior faculty’s positive and negative mentorship experiences with faculty-to-faculty mentorship  in terms of perceived (1) behaviors their senior faculty mentors enact in their mentoring relationships, (2) contexts and structures that influence their mentoring relationships, and (3) outcomes resulting from their mentoring relationships. 
The preliminary results revealed that mentoring behaviors such as candid feedback and tactical advice and contextual factors such as having mutual admiration, common interests outside of work, and shared identities or values between mentor and mentee all contributed to desirable mentorship outcomes (e.g., increased mental health and well-being, positive career outlook). In addition, structural elements, such as whether the mentoring relationship was initiated as part of a formal mentorship program and the power dynamics between mentor and mentee, also had an impact. established expectations, and a focus on the mentee). Findings from this work are expected to offer a valuable resource for universities, engineering units, and faculty members and to provide clear guidance for the development, implementation, and assessment of effective mentoring practices.

AU  - Himani Sharma
AU  - Jennifer Hadley Perkins
AU  - Samantha Ruth Brunhaver
AU  - Adam R Carberry
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Establishing a Framework for the Effective Mentorship of Junior Engineering Faculty
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/47336
ER  -